The woman, perhaps catching the man’s scent, let out a soft moan, and Jiang Yan’s face flushed red at once.
Meng Qianzi pulled out a handkerchief and stuffed it into the woman’s mouth, then set her down in a corner.
Jiang Yan cleared his throat in embarrassment. “What now?”
If he had not wanted to know exactly what was going on, he would not have wanted to stay here for a single moment.
Meng Qianzi asked in a low, steady voice, “Do you know where the Elder Princess is right now?”
Jiang Yan pointed to the left. “Zhaochun Hall, not far from here. She wasn’t feeling well earlier and found a nearby place to rest.”
Meng Qianzi silently thanked her luck, she had lied earlier about delivering the pendant to the Elder Princess, and Nanny Xiangyun had not pressed her too hard, probably because the Elder Princess really was nearby.
From that single sentence alone, a rough shape of the whole scheme had come into focus.
This was no accident, and it was not the consort straying with another woman, it was a plot aimed at the Elder Princess. Someone wanted her dead!
First they arranged for her to fall ill, then lured the consort here to commit an unforgivable wrong, so that by the time word reached her and she rushed over, the husband she loved would not only be caught in an affair, but would already be a corpse with no way to explain himself.
The Elder Princess, already frail and often sick, would surely not survive such a double blow.
Thinking back to Nanny Xiangyun, whom she had run into earlier, she finally understood the hidden truth behind the vague rumors she had heard in her past life.
She knew Zhaochun Hall, it was less than a quarter of an hour’s distance from Yufu Palace. She said at once, “His Highness told this servant to tell you to bring the Elder Princess here right away.”
And she added firmly, “You must bring Her Highness the Elder Princess here, quickly!”
Jiang Yan paused for a moment, his gaze, as it fell on her, seeming to see straight through her. “Even without you saying so, I would bring the Princess here.” He wanted to know who wanted him dead.
Jiang Yan hurried off, and Meng Qianzi’s fingers curled into fists without her noticing, trembling slightly.
Merely stopping the consort from falling into the trap was not enough, it was what happened next that would make Xiao Jiuyi owe her a far greater debt!
Meng Qianzi strained her ears for any sound from outside, and time once again stretched unbearably long…
It felt like she had waited a very, very long time before voices and footsteps finally reached her.
By the sound of it, there were about a dozen people.
The footsteps drew gradually nearer, and Meng Qianzi’s breath nearly stopped from tension, praying that the Elder Princess would arrive first, she meant to have the Elder Princess hide and watch what unfolded.
But things did not go as she wished, and instead she heard Nanny Xiangyun’s voice.
The old woman said sharply, “All of you, get your wits about you. Her Majesty the Empress Dowager has said that if it’s true, as Mingyue claims, that someone is here doing that filthy thing, then whoever it is will be beaten to death on the spot, no matter who they are!”
“Yes!”
The attendants’ voices, answering in unison, made Meng Qianzi’s heart clench, her chest going cold through and through.
The Elder Princess would not get to see this scene play out after all…
Chaotic footsteps sounded in the courtyard, along with the sound of several doors being pushed open, and a shrill voice cried out excitedly, “Nanny, someone seems to be in this room!”
Meng Qianzi shut her eyes in despair, she knew there was no one in the room at all, and Nanny Xiangyun would come away empty-handed.
She had no way now to prove that, without her help, the consort would have been beaten to death.
Would Xiao Jiuyi still owe her a debt of gratitude?
In the courtyard, Nanny Xiangyun gave a heavy cold snort. “Beat them to within an inch of their lives!”
Suddenly, a soft, pleasant voice rang out. “What has Nanny so worked up?”
Meng Qianzi’s eyes flew open with delight, and she looked out through the half-closed gap of the door.
She saw a beautiful woman in palace dress being helped along by the consort, Jiang Yan, walking slowly in.
The magnificent skirts beneath her trailed the ground, graceful as a peony in full bloom, her bearing dignified, her face lovely.
Behind her came a crowd of maids and attendants, and at the very back, Xiao Jiuyi walked in with no expression at all.
Nanny Xiangyun spun around at once, and the first thing she saw was not the Elder Princess but the consort, Jiang Yan, beside her, her face changing color uncontrollably.
But within the space of a breath she rearranged her expression, putting on a humble smile and dropping to her knees in the courtyard to bow.
In an instant, a great crowd knelt down all across the courtyard.
“This servant greets the Elder Princess, greets Little Prince Yong, greets the Master Consort.”
The Elder Princess smiled gently and came forward herself to help her up. “Nanny is Mother’s most trusted attendant. At your age, there’s no need for such a grand show of ceremony.”
Nanny Xiangyun’s back was already soaked with sweat, but she kept her expression composed and rose to her feet along with the gesture.
Lowering her hands, she said, “This servant thanks Her Highness the Elder Princess for her kindness. This servant was handling some matters and did not mean to disturb the two Highnesses. This servant deserves death!”
Xiao Jiuyi stared at the room in the doorway, now crowded with people, and instructed Qingzhou, “Go take a look.”
Nanny Xiangyun’s smile froze on her face, and in her urgency she spread her arms to block Qingzhou’s way. “Let this servant handle it instead…”
Xiao Jiuyi slowly turned his head to look at her, his eyes narrowing slightly.
“This Prince’s word doesn’t count anymore?”
Nanny Xiangyun dropped to her knees at once in fright. “Your Highness is joking. How would this servant dare…”
“Then shut your mouth, or you won’t be needing that tongue of yours anymore.” Xiao Jiuyi’s tone was flat, and he did not so much as blink while speaking of ripping out someone’s tongue.
Yet everyone present knew that Little Prince Yong’s words were no idle threat, he really would do it!
The arms Nanny Xiangyun had braced in front of her began to tremble uncontrollably, and in the end she did not dare say another word.
Qingzhou went into the room, took a turn around it, and came back out clicking his tongue.
“Reporting to Your Highness, no one’s in the room, but that kind of incense is still burning.”
The Elder Princess asked, puzzled, “What kind?”
Qingzhou’s handsome face turned red at once, as if rouged.
Realization dawned on the Elder Princess, and she frowned in disgust. “How could such a thing happen?”
Jiang Yan glanced instinctively toward the corner room.
Xiao Jiuyi lifted his foot and hooked it under Nanny Xiangyun’s chin. “Are you deaf? Didn’t you hear my aunt’s question?”
On his black liuhe boots, a golden suanni with sharp fangs was embroidered, as if it meant to tear her apart.
Nanny Xiangyun’s face went pale and blue. “This servant truly doesn’t know what happened.” She suddenly pointed a finger at a palace maid behind her. “It was her, it was Mingyue who said she saw someone here doing… doing that filthy thing. This servant did not dare hide it and reported at once to Her Majesty the Empress Dowager. Her Majesty flew into a rage and sent this servant with people to deal with whoever was defiling the palace…”
Qingzhou walked over, seized Mingyue, and shoved her forward in front of Xiao Jiuyi. “Tell His Highness, is what she said true?”
Mingyue’s face had already gone deathly pale with fear, and she knocked her head hard against the ground before Xiao Jiuyi. “This servant truly did see someone here with her own eyes… doing that…”
Qingzhou demanded, “Then where is that person now?”
Sweat soaked the hair at Mingyue’s temples, and she shook her head quickly. “This servant doesn’t know. Perhaps they’ve already… already left…”
“Heh. Catching a thief requires the stolen goods, catching an affair requires both parties, and you think one line, ‘perhaps they’ve already left,’ is enough to settle this?” Xiao Jiuyi rubbed the thumb ring on his thumb and said slowly, a flash of violence in his eyes that might have been imagined. “You told my Imperial Grandmother of something that never happened, and made her angry on what should be a day of joy. Do you understand your crime?”
Great tears rolled from Mingyue’s eyes, and she kept knocking her head against the ground before Xiao Jiuyi. “This servant has spoken nothing but the truth. This servant begs Your Highness to look into it…”
The woman’s forehead struck the flagstones again and again, quickly breaking the skin, blood staining the bluestone like blossoms of red plum.
Xiao Jiuyi simply watched her coldly, saying nothing.
Even the Elder Princess, ever the gentlest of people, pressed her lips together and said nothing. In the courtyard, now half-filled with kneeling people, the only sound was the heavy, repeated knocking of the maid’s head against the stone.